Photo: Robert Campbell · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Fort Bragg are lower than in 79% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. 18.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.0% across California. The two grades for Fort Bragg are D for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fort Bragg, in a few figures
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Fort Bragg
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Bragg is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #785 of 847 in California. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Fort Bragg’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Bragg could be anywhere from D− to C.
A commute of about 13 minutes in Fort Bragg
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Bragg workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,686 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily flow of workers through Fort Bragg
On a workday 1,447 residents head out to work, 1,203 work right here, and 1,898 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.17 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
8% of working residents work in Mendocino
Where Fort Bragg clocks in
8% of workers
3% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
What Fort Bragg’s employers do
3,101 jobs are based in Fort Bragg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Bragg, 2013 → 2023: 3,159 → 3,101. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Bragg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Fort Bragg
About 25% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Fort Bragg is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Bragg is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #84 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 6.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,846 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 83% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 54% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 11.2% of Fort Bragg households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Fort Bragg’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Fort Bragg compares with U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | La Habra Heights CA | 5,327 | $180K | 4.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,949 | Elkins WV | 6,622 | $44K | 17.3% | 6.5% | 36% | D |
| 2,950 | Springfield Township IL | 5,485 | $40K | 31.3% | 15.1% | 4% | D |
| 2,951 | Fort Bragg CA | 6,946 | $56K | 18.2% | 6.3% | 45% | D |
| 2,952 | Gridley CA | 7,258 | $58K | 17.9% | 11.5% | 17% | D |
| 2,953 | Waynesboro GA | 5,511 | $42K | 26.0% | 6.1% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,167 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Fort Bragg, the top three, the last and three more from California.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Fort Bragg: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Bragg?
$56,481 (±$11,687) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Bragg?
18.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Bragg?
13 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Bragg work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mendocino (8%, 9 mi), Ukiah (3%, 38 mi), Santa Rosa (2%, 90 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Bragg walkable?
Fort Bragg is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Bragg without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 83% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Bragg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Bragg
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.